Pulsed corona oxidation of low NO and NO2 concentrations : semi-industrial tests and model simulations to illustrate the process

We present results of tests at semi-industrial scale accompanied by computer imulations, to illustrate the analysis of the reactor process and to test the applicability to traffic tunnel cleaning. The pollutant source is a diluted exhaust flow of a 15 kW Diesel engine. NOx input to the reactor is 30 ppm. The reactor is a 500 liter multiple-plate saw-blade structure fed by a 200 ns pulse source of 5 kW maximum average power. This source is a resonant charging system, pressurized spark gap and transmission line transformer. The computer model of removal process takes into account processes of chemical kinetics, diffusion outside and inside of streamer traces during multi-pulsed treatment and continued conversion in the inactive volume between reactor and point of gas sampling. Results show fair agreement between measured and simulated data of NO, NO2 and O3. HNO2, HNO3 production is shown as the completion of the process.